Hydraulic turret control



July 3, 1956 T. GURNEY ET AL 2,753,003

HYDRAULIC TURRET CONTROL Filed Feb. 14, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS GORDON T. GURNEY JOHN P. GAGLIARDO ATTOR N EYS y 3, 1956 G. 'r. GURNEY ET AL 2,753,003

HYDRAULIC TURRET CONTROL 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 14, 1955 Fig. 2

. GAGLIARDO ATTO R N EYS INVENTORS GORDON T. GURNE'Y JOHN P y 3, 1956 G. T. GURNEY ET AL 2,753,003

HYDRAULIC TURRET CONTROL 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 14, 1955 Fig. 4

INVENTORS GORDON T. GURNEY J HN P. GAGLIARDO BY ATTORNEYS l rates Patent nice 2,753,003 Fatented July 3, 1956 HYDRAULIC TURRET CONTROL Gordon T. Gurney, Worcester, and John P. Gagliardo, Shrewsbury, Mam, assignors to Rockwood Sprinkler Company, Worcester, Mass.

Application February 14, 1955, Serial No. 487,734

11 Claims. (Cl. 169-25) The present invention relates to control apparatus for turrets and in particular to a hydraulically boosted control system for azimuth and elevation.

in the copending application of Gordon T. Gurney, entitled Hydraulic Turret Control, Serial No. 458,146, filed September 24, 1954, there is described a simple single handle turret control for directing a fire fighting nozzle, together with an independently operated hydraulic control system for the turret.

It is desirable that the simplicity of this single handle manual control be retained. In addition, it is desirable the hydraulic actuating means serve to assist the manual control.

It is therefore the object of this invention to provide a hydraulically boosted servo control system whereby the single handle manual operation is preserved and the hydraulic system in addition provides a power boosted manual control for the turret.

In order to achieve this object, the subject invention contemplates the use of the single handle control rod for manual positioning of the nozzle together with elevation and azimuth control valves which are independently operated by motion of the single control handle. A feature of this invention is the arrangement of the elevation valve and the hydraulic piston controlling elevation, which are In the accompanying drawings, which will be used to describe the invention,

Fig. 1 is an elevation showing the relationship of the control handle, the control column, and the turret head.

Fig. 2 is an elevation partly in sectionshowing the arrangement of the servo valves inside the control column.

Fig. 3 is a detail cutaway perspective drawing showing the porting arrangement of the azimuth valve.

Fig. 3A is a section through the azimuth valve showing the relationship of certain of the ports.

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale, showing the control column in the region of the azimuth and elevation valves.

As illustrated by reference to Figs. 1 and 2, the fire fighting turret comprises a frame hung from the supporting member 8, which may be the roof of a fire fighting truck, and supporting the turret gimbal body 12 which is adapted to be rotated about a vertical axis for training of the turret in azimuth. The frame has an inlet 13 for fire fighting liquid, connecting with a central passage 14 and extending through the body. The upper end of the turret body carries the usual flaring yoke of two arms 16 having water passages branching from the passage 14. A nozzle member 18 is supported by the arms 16 and is journaled at 26' in the arms 16 for rotation about a horizontal axis in order that it may be positioned in elevation. The nozzle member terminates in a suitable discharge device indicated in Fig. 1 as a foam screen 22, similar to that shown in the Freeman Patent 2,604,498.

As shown in Fig. 2 rotation of the body 12 about the vertical axis for training in azimuth is effected by journaling the body on roller bearings 24 in the frame 10.

A control rod 26 is pivoted at its upper end to a link 2% which in turn is pivotally connected to the nozzle member in back of the axis 20, whereby vertical motion of the control rod changes the elevation of the nozzle. The control rod 26 is also provided with additional parts to control the hydraulic boost in. a manner which will be later described.

Secured to the bottom of the frame 10 is a valve body 30 and below that is a second valve body in theform of the cylinder 32. As will be presently described, the valve body 30 is stationary and serves to contain the valves for controlling the azimuth boost, while the cylinder 32 is capable of rotation. Secured to the bottom of the cylinder 32 is a collar 34 pivoted to a link 36 which is in turn pivoted to a clevis 38 forming part of a handle 40. The handle 40 is pinned to a collar 42 which is free to rotate on the end of a sleeve 44. The sleeve 44 constitutes an elevation valve cylinder which will be presently described.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the stationary body 3t) encloses a rotary valve sleeve member indicated generally at 45 which in turn encloses the rotary valve spool 47. The parts 45 and 47 are shown in an enlarged scale in Fig. 3 and have the valve passages there indicated. The sleeve 45 is formed with a. lower supply groove 46 and an upper return groove 48 communicating with supply and return lines 50 and 52, respectively, regardless of the angular position of the body within the cylinder 30. The lower groove 46 has a radial opening 54 and the upper groove 48 has a radial opening 56 communicating with passages of the spool 47 in a manner to control the supply of hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic azimuth motor which is shown at 58. The passages in the spool will be later described in detail, but it suflices to say at the present that these passages control the flow of hydraulic fluid to circumferential grooves 64 and 62 communicating with lines 64 and 66 respectively connecting with the motor 58 as shown in Fig. 1. The motor 58 is connected by suitable gearing68 to drive the turret body in azimuth.

The sleeve 44 which has heretofore been mentioned as a valve body extends upwardly into the cylinder 32 and receives the lower end of a valve rod member 70 which is suitably secured to the bottom of the control rod 26. As shown in Fig. 4 the bottom portion of the valve rod 70 is formed as a spool having cavities 72, 74 and 76 separated by lands 78 and St). A hydraulic supply line is connected to the sleeve 44 and communicates through a long passage 82 with the cavity 74 which is between the lands 78 and 80. A hydraulic return line 84 is also formed in the sleeve 44 and communicates with the upper and lower cavities 72 and 76. A hydraulic piston 86 is secured to the valve rod 70 and is free to reciprocate within the outer cylinder 32. As indicated in Fig. 2, the cylinder 32 forms a fluid chamber 88 above the piston and a second fluid chamber 90 below the piston. The latter chamber is suitably closed by a sealing member 92.

The sleeve 44 is formed with radial ports 94 and 96 which in inactive position arecovered by the: lands 78 and of the spool. The ports 94 and 96 communicate with arcuate grooves 98 and 100, respectively, in the piston 86, which grooves communicate in turn with ports 102 and 104 leading to the chambers 88 and 90, respectively. It will be readily seen that when the sleeve 44- is moved up or down relative to the valve rod 70 the ports 94 and 96 are uncovered, and the supply and return lines are connected in such a way as to apply a pressure either to the hence the control rod 26, is moved up or down to depress or elevate the nozzle.

In order to permit manual operation without hydraulic boost the sleeve 44 is provided with pins 110 which protrude outwardly therefrom and which are adapted to engage the underside of the piston 86 for upward movement of the latter, or the upper side of a collar 112 which is secured to the piston 86, for downward movement of the latter. The pin 110 has sufficient lost motion between the underside of the piston proper and the upper side of the collar 112 to permit the above described operations of hydraulic control.

The details of the apparatus for operating the turret in azimuth, either manually or hydraulically, will now be described. The upper end of the rotating cylinder 32 is secured by set screws 116 with the azimuth valve body or sleeve member 45 which has been heretofore described. Rotation of the handle 40 causes the hub 42 to turn on the sleeve 44, thereby rotating the cylinder 32 and also the valve sleeve member 45. The valve sleeve member 45 has at the top a flange 118 which overlies a suitable shoulder on the stationary cylinder 30. Rotational motion of the valve sleeve 45 is communicated to the lower part of the turret body 12.

As shown in Fig. 2 this lower part of the turret body comprises a hub 119 connected with the main part of the turret body by a spider 120. The connection of the valve sleeve member 45 with the hub 118 is not direct, but through a slip joint 122 which allows a small relative movement between the parts in either direction, which relative motion is utilized for controlling the operation of the valve sleeve 45 and spool 47. The slip joint 122 is shown in Figs. 2 and 4 and comprises the parts 124 and 126 secured respectively to the flange 118 and the hub 119 to cause the rotary movement above described. The valve spool 47 is connected directly with the hub 119 through pins 128.

As shown in Figures 3 and 3A the spool is provided with an upper circumferential groove 130 and a lower groove 132 communicating with the radial passages 56 and 54 respectively of the valve sleeve 45.

The radial passages 54 and 56 communicate with the circumferential grooves 46 and 48 respectively in the valve sleeve 45 which are in communication with the supply and return passages 50 and 52 respectively in the azimuth valve body 30. The groove 130 in the valve spool 47 is therefore always open to the exhaust line 52 and groove 132 to the supply line 50.

The valve sleeve 45 also carries the two above-mentioned circumferential grooves 60 and 62 located between the supply and return grooves and communicating with the ports 61 and 63 leading to the motor lines 64 and 66 respectively. The sleeve 45 has two radial ports 138 and 140. The outer end of port 138 is in constant communcation with the groove 60, and its inner end normally lies between two longitudinal grooves 134 and 135 in the spool. Similarly the outer end of port 146 is in constant communication with the groove 62, and its inner end normally lies between the two longitudinal grooves 134 and 137.

Longitudinal groove 134 opens at all times to the circumferential channel 132 which in turn is in constant communication with the supply line 50. Therefore groove 134 is always a supply duct regardless of the azimuth position of the turret and the valve spool 47 attached to the turret. Similarly longitudinal channels 135 and 137 are constantly open to circumferential groove 130 which leads to the return line 52 regardless of the azimuth position of the nozzle.

The above described valve construction operates as follows. When the ports 138 and 140 are in the normal closed position between the channels 134, 135 and 137 flow to the motor is blocked. Rotation of the sleeve 45 in either direction, achieved by rotating the elevation cylinder body 32, places one of the two ports in registration ures 3 and 3A is rotated, the hydraulic fluid will flow from the supply line 50 through the case 30 to the circumferential groove 46 in the sleeve 45 and through the radial port 54 to the circumferential groove 132 and the longitudinal channel 134 in the spool. To this point the path is the same regardless of the direction of movement or the sleeve. If the sleeve rotation is clockwise looking down on the valve, port 146 will come into registration with supply channel 134 and the flow will proceed out the port 140 in the sleeve to the circumferential channel 62 and thus through port 63 and line 66 to the motor. Simultaneously the line 64 from the motor will return the fluid through port 61 to the circumferential channel 60 and port 138 in the sleeve to the longitudinal return channel in the spool. The return channel 135 opens to the circumferential channel 130 in spool 47 and through the radial port 56 in the sleeve 45 to the circumferential channel 48 in the sleeve which is constantly in communication with the return line 52.

The azimuth motor 58 through the gear train 68 is actuated by the hydraulic fluid to turn the body 12 and the attached spool 47 in a clockwise direction until the ports 138 and are again closed cutting off the hydraulic fluid.

If the sleeve had been rotated counterclockwise instead of clockwise the flow pattern would be similar, but the direction of fiow through the motor would be reversed. Supply channel 134 would come into registration with port 138 and chanel 60 in the sleeve and hence through line 64 to the other side of the motor. The return line 66 from the motor will then feed through channel 62 and port 140 to longitudinal channel 137 which leads to the return line 52 instead of to longitudinal channel 135. With the flow reversed, the motor will drive the turret in the opposite or counterclockwise direction again moving I the spool to close the ports 138 and 148.

In summary the operation of this turret is as follows. Hydraulic elevation control is effected by vertical movement of the handle 46 which moves the elevation valve sleeve 44 to open the ports 94 and 96 in the elevation valve sleeve and permit flow of hydraulic fluid from the supply line 82 into one of the chambers 88 and 90. The piston 86 will thereby be forced upward or downward until the ports are again closed, at which time the control rod 70 has been moved vertically. This elevates or depresses the nozzle. For emergency operation, manual elevation control becomes operative when the excursion of the handle is such that the stop 11th riding in a chamber in the piston engages the side of said chamber, acting to lift or depress the piston. In addition, effective manual control in the absence of hydraulic actuation requires that a bypass valve, shown diagrammatically at 150, be opened between the hydraulic supply and return lines to avoid pressure build-up in the chambers 88 and 90.

Hydraulic azimuth control is effected by rotary movement of the handle 40, as above described. Manual azimuth control operates when rotation of the sleeve 45 brings the portion of the slip joint 122 which is attached to the sleeve into contact with the surface fixed to the turret body. As in the case of the elevation control, a bypass valve 152 in the motor lines should then be opened.

This apparatus has been shown and described in its presently preferred embodiment but it is understood that the actual construction may be varied substantially by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of our invention as stated in the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a fire-fighting turret having a frame, a body supported by the frame and a nozzle supported by the body, means for rotating the body in azimuth and a control rod to control nozzle elevation, the elevation control apparatus comprising a cylinder body coaxial with the control rod, a piston fitted to the cylinder and fixed to the control rod, a valve spool on the axis of the control rod, a valve sleeve between the spool and the piston, supply and return ducts inside the sleeve, means for limiting the vertical movement of the sleeve with respect to the spool, reversible porting means between the spool and the sleeve, and ducts extending through the piston whereby movement of the sleeve opens the ports to move the piston in a direction tending to close the ports.

2. A fire-fighting turret as in claim 1 wherein the elevation cylinder body is suspended from the gimbal along the vertical axis and rotation of said body rotates the gimbal in azimuth.

3. A firefighting turret as in claim 1 having in addi tion an azimuth motor, an azimuth valve spool attached to the gimbal body, and an azimuth valve sleeve about the spool and connecting means from the valve to the motor wherein the elevation cylinder body is suspended from the azimuth valve sleeve and rotation of the elevation cylinder body opens to azimuth valve to drive the azimuth motor.

4. A fire-fighting turret comprising a frame, a body supported by the frame, a nozzle supported by the body, a reversible hydraulic motor to rotate the body in azimuth, means to control the nozzle elevation, and an azimuth valve concentric about the azimuth axis comprising an azimuth valve sleeve, an azimuth valve spool fastened to the body and fitted to the sleeve, circumferential supply and return channels between the sleeve and spool surfaces, ports opening through the sleeve, a plurality of longitudinal channels in the interface between spool and sleeve, means to rotate the sleeve with respect to the spool to open the ports to the supply and return channels and connecting means from the port to either side of the motor.

5. A fire-fighting turret as in claim 4 having in addition an elevation control rod extending along the azimuth axis through the azimuth valve spool.

6. A fire-fighting turret as in claim 4 wherein the means to control nozzle elevation comprise an elevation control rod extending vertically through the azimuth valve spool, an elevation control valve in a case suspended from and fixed to the azimuth valve spool, an elevation control piston driven by the elevation control valve, means to operate the elevation control valve and means to rotate the elevation control valve case to control the azimuth valve.

7. A turret control system comprising a frame, a body member, means for mounting the body member for rotation in azimuth, a directed member, a control rod extending along the azimuth axis and connecting with the directed member, a handle connected to the control rod through an elevation valve and to the body through an azimuth valve for independently turning the body in azimuth and controlling the directed member in elevation, azimuth valve means responsive to relative rotational movement between the handle and the body, hydraulic means controlled by the azimuth valve to rotate the body in azimuth, elevation valve means responsive to relative vertical movement between the handle and the control rod and hydraulic means controlled by the elevation valve to position the nozzle in elevation.

8. A turret control system as described in claim 7 wherein the control rod extends downward through the azimuth valve and the elevation valve is suspended from the azimuth valve sleeve whereby vertical actuation of the handle controls the elevation valve and rotational movement of the handle rotates the elevation valve and the attached azimuth valve sleeve to actuate the azimuth valve.

9. A turret comprising a frame, a body member, means for mounting the body member for rotation in azimuth, a directed member mounted on the body for adjustment in elevation, an elevation control rod extending along the azimuth axis and connecting with the directed member, a reversible azimuth valve sleeve fitted to the frame, means permitting limited relative motion between the azimuth valve sleeve and the turret body, an azimuth valve spool fixed to the turret body, a hydraulic azimuth control motor, connecting means for the hydraulic fluid between the valve and the motor, a cylindrical elevation valve body fastened to the azimuth valve sleeve, a hydraulic piston within the body fastened to the control rod, an elevation valve spool on the control rod and an elevation valve sleeve about the spool, reversible porting means actuated by relative motion between the spool and sleeve, a handle fastened to the elevation valve sleeve and the elevation valve body to effect vertical motion of the rod and rotational motion of the turret body and hydraulic supply means for the valves,

10. In a turret having a frame, a body member mounted on the frame for rotation in azimuth, a directed member mounted on the body for change of elevation, and a single handle actuating a control rod vertically to adjust the directed member in elevation and rotating the body to control azimuth, a control system comprising a motor to rotate the body, a reversible azimuth valve to drive the motor in response to a differential between handle position and body position, and a combined hydraulic servo valve and piston for control of elevation comprising a valve member fixed to the control rod, a sleeve for the valve member attached to the handle, a piston fitted around the sleeve and fixed to the control rod, a cylinder to carry the piston, and porting means between the valve members and ducting means through the piston whereby vertical motion of the sleeve actuates the piston tending to close the ports.

11. A turret comprising a frame, a body rotatably carried by the frame, a directed member carried by the body, means for adjusting nozzle elevation, an elevation control rod extending vertically downward along the body axis, an azimuth hydraulic valve fitted to the frame coaxially around the control rod and having inter alia, a following spool fixed to the body, a valve sleeve member around the spool, means fastening the valve member to the body permitting limited relative motion, hydraulic supply and return means fitted to the frame, reversible porting means between valve member and spool, a re versible hydraulic azimuth motor, means connecting the azimuth valve with the motor, an elevation cylinder body suspended from the azimuth valve sleeve coaxial with the control rod, a hydraulic piston fitted to the case and fixed to the control rod, a valve spool fixed to the control rod, a valve sleeve between the spool and the piston and projecting downward through the case, means permitting limited relative vertical movement between the sleeve and the piston, porting means for the elevation valve permitting flow of hydraulic fluid to either side of the piston and means for manually moving the elevation cylinder body in azimuth and the elevation valve sleeve in elevation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

